Axis Configuration:

Also refer to the diagram tab for two examples of
home and limit switches. These are two examples of
many different ways to set homing and limits.

It very important to start with the axis moving
in the right direction or else getting homing
right is very difficult.

Remember positive and negative directions
refer to the TOOL not the table as per the 
Machinists handbook.
on a typical knee or bed mill:
    when the TABLE moves out that is the positive Y direction
    when the TABLE moves left that is the positive X direction
    when the TABLE moves down that is the positive Z direction
    when the HEAD moves up that is the positive Z direction
on a typical lathe:
    when the TOOL moves right, away from the chuck
    that is the positive Z direction
    when the TOOL moves toward the operator
    that is the positive X direction. Some lathes have X 
    opposite (eg tool on back side), that will work fine but 
    AXIS graphical display can not be made to reflect this. 

When using homing and / or limit switches
LinuxCNC expects the HAL signals to be true when 
the switch is being pressed / tripped.
If the signal is wrong for a limit switch then
LinuxCNC will think the machine is on end of limit
all the time. If the home switch search logic is wrong
LinuxCNC will seem to home in the wrong direction.
What it actually is doing is trying to BACK off 
the home switch.

-Decide on limit switch location.
    Limit switches are the back up for software limits in case
    something electrical goes wrong eg. servo runaway.
    Limit switches should be placed so that the machine does not
    hit the physical end of the axis movement. Remember the axis
    will coast past the contact point if moving fast. Limit switches
    should be 'active low' on the machine. eg. power runs through
    the switches all the time - a loss of power (open switch) trips.
    While one could wire them the other way, this is fail safe.
    This may need to be inverted so that the HAL signal in LinuxCNC
    in 'active high' - a TRUE means the switch was tripped. When
    starting LinuxCNC if you get an on-limit warning, and axis is NOT
    tripping the switch, inverting the signal is probably the
    solution. (use HALMETER to check the corresponding HAL signal  
    eg. axis.0.pos-lim-sw-in  X axis positive limit switch)

-Decide on the home switch location.
    If you are using limit switches You may as well use one as a
    home switch. A separate home switch is useful if you have a long
    axis that in use is usually a long way from the limit switches or
    moving the axis to the ends presents problems of interference 
    with material.
    eg a long shaft in a lathe makes it hard to home to limits with out 
    the tool hitting the shaft, so a separate home switch closer to the 
    middle may be better.
    If you have an encoder with index then the home switch acts as a 
    course home and the index will be the actual home location.

-Decide on the MACHINE ORIGIN position.
    MACHINE ORIGIN is what LinuxCNC uses to reference all user coordinate
    systems from.
    I can think of little reason it would need to be in any particular
    spot. There are only a few G codes that can access the 
    MACHINE COORDINATE system.( G53, G30 and G28 )
    If using tool-change-at-G30 option having the Origin at the tool
    change position may be convenient. By convention, it may be easiest
    to have the ORIGIN at the home switch.

-Decide on the (final) HOME POSITION.
    this just places the carriage at a consistent and convenient position 
    after LinuxCNC figures out where the ORIGIN is.

-Measure / calculate the positive / negative axis travel distances.
    Move the axis to the origin. Mark a reference on the movable
    slide and the non-moveable support (so they are in line) move 
    the machine to the end of limits. Measure between the marks that is one 
    of the travel distances. Move the table to the other end of travel.
    Measure the marks again. That is the other travel distance. If the ORIGIN
    is at one of the limits then that travel distance will be zero.

(machine) ORIGIN:
    The Origin is the MACHINE zero point. (not
    the zero point you set your cutter / material at).
    LinuxCNC uses this point to reference everything else
    from. It should be inside the software limits.
    LinuxCNC uses the home switch location to calculate 
    the origin position (when using home switches
    or must be manually set if not using home switches.

Travel distance:
    This is the maximum distance the axis can
    travel in each direction. This may
    or may not be able to be measured directly
    from origin to limit switch. The positive and
    negative travel distances should add up to the
    total travel distance.
  
POSITIVE TRAVEL DISTANCE:
    This is the distance the Axis travels from 
    the Origin to the positive travel distance or
    the total travel minus the negative travel 
    distance. You would set this to zero if the
    origin is positioned at the positive limit.
    The will always be zero or a positive number.

NEGATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCE:
    This is the distance the Axis travels from 
    the Origin to the negative travel distance.
    or the total travel minus the positive travel 
    distance. You would set this to zero if the
    origin is positioned at the negative limit.
    This will always be zero or a negative number.
    If you forget to make this negative PNCconf
    will do it internally.

(Final) HOME POSITION:
    This is the position the home sequence will
    finish at. It is referenced from the Origin
    so can be negative or positive depending on
    what side of the Origin it is located.
    When at the (final) home position if
    you must move in the Positive direction to
    get to the Origin, then the number will be 
    negative.

HOME SWITCH LOCATION:
    This is the distance from the home switch to 
    the Origin. It could be negative or positive
    depending on what side of the Origin it is
    located. When at the home switch location if
    you must move in the Positive direction to
    get to the Origin, then the number will be 
    negative. If you set this to zero then the
    Origin will be at the location of the limit
    switch (plus distance to find index if used) 
    
Home Search Velocity:
    Course home search velocity in units per minute.
   
Home Search Direction:
    Sets the home switch search direction
    either negative (ie. towards negative limit switch)
    or positive (ie. towards positive limit switch)

Home Latch Velocity:
    Fine Home search velocity in units per minute

Home Final Velocity:
    Velocity used from latch position to (final) home position
    in units per minute. Set to 0 for max rapid speed 

Home latch Direction:
    Allows setting of the latch direction to the same
    or opposite of the search direction.

Use Encoder Index For Home:
    LinuxCNC will search for an encoder index pulse while in
    the latch stage of homing.

Use Compensation File:
    Allows specifying a Comp filename and type.
    Allows sophisticated compensation. See Manual.

Use Backlash Compensation:
    Allows setting of simple backlash compensation. Can 
    not be used with Compensation File. See Manual. 
